


Cursum Perficio

by Dordean



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 05:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13047234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dordean/pseuds/Dordean
Summary: For Prompt: "Ciri takes Regis on a trip to see his ancestral home world."





	Cursum Perficio

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kaeltale](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeltale/gifts), [a_sparrows_fall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_sparrows_fall/gifts).



> The title was borrowed from [Enya's song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_DuEU6Mvg), and can be roughly translated as "My Journey Ends Here".
> 
> Endless thanks and love to Kael and Sparrow for beta.

***

“Are you sure?” he asked her for what had to be some hundredth time, fumbling with the strap of his satchel.

Ciri crossed her arms underneath her cloak and sighed; he could sense both her understanding and her impatience. He was grateful for the first, and could not blame her for the second. 

“I promised you,” she said with a small smile. “Now, that was over twenty-five years ago, so you might not remember…”

“If that’s you saying I’m old, young lady...”

She snorted and Regis smiled. For all the changes he did notice in her, subtle ones as her elven blood manifested itself - the lines at the corner of her eyes and mouth, the way she carried herself, that youthful, daring spark replaced by confidence and maturity - it was truly heartwarming to see that some things did not change. 

“At least you can’t throw all those royal titles at me anymore,” she grinned at him, the expression a stark contrast to her poise, shaped by the decades of ruling over a half of the continent. “Besides, you’re stalling for time and you know it.”

“I-” Regis broke off. Ciri was watching him closely. “I suppose I am,” he admitted under her gaze.

“Vampire,” she said, her voice tender. “If you’re not ready…”

“I myself askedyou to do this,” he pointed out sourly.

“And it’s fine if you changed your mind,” Ciri retorted.

He took a deep breath.

“No,” he said, gathering whatever was left of his courage. “I want to do this.”

“And your wish is my command,” she smiled at him.

“What did your royal consort say to this adventure?” he asked. 

Ever since the assassination attempt fifteen years prior, an attempt that nearly cost Ciri her life, and saw him back in the capital, Regis and the king did have an unspoken and mutual agreement that her safety was a topmost priority. 

Which was why he couldn’t quite shake the nagging thought that him putting her at risk for the sake of his whim was the exact opposite to what he should have been doing under the terms of that agreement. 

“I didn’t feel it necessary to fill him in on _all_ the details,” Ciri chuckled. “I just said you and I are visiting some old friends and not to expect us back anytime soon. Besides, he is well used to this by now.”

Her determination and the inevitability of their journey made his fear for her and his guilt overshadow all the other worries he harboured on the subject.

Regis reached out and ran his thumb down her unscarred cheek. 

“But this isn’t safe for you, Swallow.”

She gave him a half-shrug.

“Since we abdicated I no longer have the commitments to the country. And I don't see how sharing any more details with him would help us.”

“Would it not be prudent to tell someone about what we're up to, though?” he asked quietly. “You may have abdicated, but you still shouldn’t simply disappear without a trace. You’re too important, Ciri, and to many.”

“You do realise that applies to you as well?” she glared at him. “And to answer your worries, I did warn Linn and Eli they're on their own as I might be gone for a while; it will do them good to get the flavour of ruling with us out of the picture anyway. I also sent a more detailed note to Geralt and Yennefer. Although there’s very little anyone, except maybe for Avallac’h, could do for us if we ran into trouble. But keep in mind that I should be able to get us out of almost anywhere, and back in a blink. As for my safety, do me a kindness and remember I am perfectly capable of looking after myself.”

She paused for a moment, a challenge in her tone loud and clear. Her words did nothing to quell his concerns - quite the contrary, in fact - but he knew well any discussion at this point was futile.

“So it’s you and me,” she added when he didn’t react. “Just like before.”

Regis could only shake his head at that. In response, she flashed him that brilliant smile of hers, the very same that made him make questionable decisions in the past. 

He took a breath and braced himself. Questionable as they all seemed at the time, he did not regret a single one of those decisions; it was then a high time to add another one to the list.

“Let us go then,” he said.

She nodded and took his hand.

“Be patient,” she warned him and a corner of her mouth quirked a little, an indication she was aware of the irony of such advice coming from _her._ “It may take a while.”

***

Regis soon realised she was not exaggerating. At first, each time a new unknown reality revealed itself to their eyes, a wave of excitement and fear mixed in equal measures threatened to drown him. But after every single one of those realities turned out to be a disappointment, as alien to him as they were to Ciri, his emotions subdued, then turned to bitterness. 

“This whole endeavour is pointless,” he told her after another attempt, trying to not let his feelings show. 

“My talent is to travel between dimensions,” she pointed out gently and proved yet again she read him as easily as he did her. “But finding a specific world, when all I have as my point of reference are your vague ideas, not even memories, of a home you've never been to - that was never going to be easy.”

He shook his head and swallowed the response. 

“It's out there, somewhere,” she took his hands again. “And we'll find it.”

***

As soon as they arrived at yet another destination, he opened his mouth to suggest they take a break - and a long one at that - when his senses caught up with him.

An overwhelming feeling of _familiar,_ of _known_ swept through him and knocked all the air from his lungs. He stumbled, let go of Ciri’s hands, and looked around in utter bewilderment. 

The world was dark, yet everywhere he looked luminous lights could be seen, the hues of silver and blue flickering in the night. He took one shaky breath, then another. The air was cold and filled with scents and sounds that were both completely new to him, and evoking half-remembered feelings of safety, of _belonging_. He could feel each fiber of his being humming and vibrating in tune with this strange, wondrous place. 

The moon was high in the sky; not nearly full but without any reference it was impossible to tell if it was waxing or waning. Ciri’s magic left them on a flat top of a tall, nearly vertical rock; many similar stone pillars and arches filled the landscape in all directions. To their left a sharp, tall mountain range rose, its mountain tops covered in snow; to their right a body of water shimmered with reflected moonlight, the rocky formations growing shorter before eventually succumbing to the water and disappearing into the liquid silver, the waves washing gently over them. More luminous light in hues of purple could be seen glimmering near the water edge and his mind ached for an opportunity to examine this world in all its intricate detail, to make it reveal all the secrets it guarded. 

Far ahead, he spotted a rocky pillar that looked different to the rest. Instead of finishing with a flat top like the others, this one was climbing up towards the sky, splitting into smaller pillars as it grew and stretched up, seemingly aiming for the moon itself. It felt organic, its branches getting slimmer towards the top, the tallest of them crowned with some shapes that felt vaguely familiar, but the distance prevented him from seeing exactly what they were. 

The distance, however, did not obscure the sight of the winged creatures circling around the tops of the pillars and with a chilling clarity Regis realised two things at once: the construction was very much _not_ natural - and that it was only accessible from the air. A winged form it was then. 

His earlier agitation and dread were back in an instant and clawed at his heart, for this - _this_ had been his most exuberant dream, and his greatest fear: to discover their people, to learn their most authentic form; to find out who they were - who he was _._

His ancestors: another argument in the never-ending nature versus nurture debate; another perspective from which to re-examine his life, his past deeds and all the choices he made. A mirror that could reveal his true self - an image undistorted by circumstances, by the rules of the world he had been born into; a reflection he both longed and was terrified to see.

Regis turned to Ciri, only to catch her watching him with a knowing smile.

“This is it,” he told her what she clearly already knew - but he needed his words and the comfort they gave him, even if they were barely intelligible to his own ears for the shaking in his voice. “This is home.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt I loved (obv), but I wasn't planning to do, as the worldbuilding element was too intimidating. But then these two started talking. (That's normally how my stories start.)
> 
> It is written as a continuation of ["Blood Ties"](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10485585/chapters/23132316), an English version of which is still a WIP and is approx 60% complete - but it works as a continuation of the empress ending as well.


End file.
